Epson ET-2850 EcoTank printer. Media choices for photos, art prints and cards 

Holy moly! Now THIS is a review. I’m a graphic designer and I think you may have saved me $250 over another $500 photo printer other reviewers just don’t know how to review, and I can’t afford! I don’t care about specs. I want to see how far you can push it! You did just that, Sir!

This is a great video. I've no interest in the printer reviewed as I've an ET-8550, but the thinking behind why it works better for matte is well worth understanding. It's Keith explaining his deep knowledge in a very practical specific situation. Watch the video for much more than the review.

This wasn't what I was looking for, but I learn''t some things about printer ink and paper types that I'd never even thought about before. Thanks!

Thanks so much for taking the time to make this video! Answered a ton of questions for me

..My brother purchased the Epson et_2800 printer About a week ago and we installed it on his Laptop & my laptop both running windows 10, we love it

I don't have any questions, as you have answered the ones that I had with this video. What I'd like to say is THANK YOU for this very informative video. You are like a breath of fresh air in posting something totally relevant in what your video title claims, and more. I certainly learned a lot in your explanations involving the inks, settings, papers, ect. I recently purchased this ET model and must say that yes, I was not very impressed with the glossy photo paper print quality. I recently gave up my Epson Photo Stylus R260 printer that I'd been using for many years. It was a very reliable printer that put out quality prints, especially on premium glossy photo paper. It had 6 ink cartridges... one black, one yellow, one light plus one regular Magenta, and one light plus one regular cyan. The glossy photo prints were absolutely gorgeous from that machine. Very rich, vibrant, and deep with colour in the prints I was doing. Too bad that R260 printer was too "rich" in the ink department, and went too "deep" into the ole' pocket at $25 (CAD) for a black cartridge, and $20 a pop for each one of the other 5 cartridges. The running joke was that it was cheaper to "throw away" the printer and go buy a new one once the ink in one cartridge ran out, as they were selling the whole printer complete with all 6 cartridges at the time (8-ish years ago) for the same cost of purchasing the individual inks (actually about $5 less!). Haha!! Wishing I would have kept that printer around if not just for photo glossy prints although, the inks were becoming harder to find as they phase out the older machines. Anyway, thanks once again for the great content hear in a sea of not-so great content at times. Peace!

✨ Thank you for this in-depth explanation ✨

Thank you, Keith, for an incredibly informative video!!! You know you business well!! After 8 years of using an Epson WF Pro 4xxx series printer that finally became inoperative, I purchased an Epson ET-3850. Thinking that 8 years of advancements would result in superb photo printing was my mistake. Now, after seeing your video, I understand why. And can see the differences in my old printers composition of CMYK cartridges as opposed to the ET method. I could not understand why the photos looks very poor on photo gloss paper but came out strikingly accurate when I mistakenly left in plain paper on one test print. So now, with your helpful video, I have a way of finding that balance between the settings and the paper where I can print the occasional photo with decent results. Thank you for sharing this great info!

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation: It is hard to find on RU-vid.

amazing presentations as always

What a wonderfully informative video, I've recently bought one of these printers to replace a dead canon. Thank you Keith!

I’m learning so much. 10/10

Printing set to matt works well on Marrutt Pro Photo Satin. Thanks for the tip!

Thank you very helpful. I’m a university student in their last year of studying photography. I am seriously considering purchasing this printer for making photo book projects.

Thank you, Keith! Interesting idea with the profile which makes use of the pigment black on (semi)gloss. Maybe such 4-ink prints can be improved with some of these protection sprays, like the one of Hahnemühle?

This was very helpful thankful

Fantastic video! Very informative, lots of great tips. Thank you.

Thanks thats a great Information ! I start to print just my illustration art prints on matte paper, so for this works well, i dont need glossy :)

Thank you very much!

Just spotted that Epson has released ET-2830, ET-2840 and ET-4810 (in addition to the ET-18100 that you mention on your website). Like the ET-2850 these are four-colour printers but interestingly they are full dye-ink printers (rather than the pigment black of the ET-2850) with the larger PrecisionCore print head. No improvement in display and none of them do automatic duplex printing which is a bit disappointing. However, it may be interesting to request Epson to provide you with one of these to evaluate given your very valid concerns over the performance impact of utilising three colour dye + black pigment inks on glossy photo paper. Thanks for all your videos - clear, objective and really informative.

This is a very informative video. Using photo paper settings and glossy paper my prints have turned out dull and with a blue/grey cast, white snow scenes show this fault. Using the Matt paper setting, which uses all four inks results in white snow coming out white. I can’t understand why including the black ink so improves the printing of white areas!

Hi Keith, thanks for the great work you did. Nether thought before to use the matte setting for luster paper. Did you check whether the black ink sticks to the luster paper without being rubbed off easily?

Good printer review :). I have the Epson ET-2851 & print nice on matt paper like permajet matt plus 240 & FB Matt 285 But I notice that semigloss & ultra gloss don't print bad. Depending what photo image you print. Most case clear picture are not printed bad. Including portrait with skintones outside & photo studio are not print bad in semigloss. But you have also soft printing to predict where out of gamma can cause issue. But icc profiles are essential. Permajet & Photospeed give free profiling service what is not bad as starting point. The ET-2850 also prints long banner size. @ Keith does this mean that all printer that use the Epson inktserie 102 are only printing matt with 4 colors & semigloss or ultra glossy with 3 colors? The printers that use the same ink are: EcoTank ET-15000 / EcoTank ET-2700 / EcoTank ET-2750 / EcoTank ET-2756 / EcoTank ET-2850 / EcoTank ET-2851 / EcoTank ET-2856 / EcoTank ET-3700 / EcoTank ET-3750 / EcoTank ET-3750 Unlimited / EcoTank ET-3850 / EcoTank ET-4750 / EcoTank ET-4850 / EcoTank ET-4856

Great review. I'm looking to buy a new printer which will allow me to feed card through as I'm a cardmaker (hobby). Need a printer that allows 300gsm

thanks for the great job you do for us too keith. I wanted to ask where can I find and download the profiles you created for this printer? because when I print a photo on Epson glossy paper, the black is more of a dark blue/purple than black. Thanks again.

Hello Keith, thank you for the great review of this printer, I have the ET 2850, I originally bought it to use for sublimation but changed my mind, its brand new so thought will keep it for printing prints. I thought I would just run some black and white prints, I tried lots of paper from high-end or low and it leaves roller marks actually it's literally gauging the paper with deep lines which you can feel and see. I saw this video and purchased the Fotospeed Matt Ultra 240 but it's still doing the same, not as bad but it's still visible and you can feel it, did you have that issue at all? Do I have a faulty printer or do I need to change a setting? Thank you so much.

Hi there! Thank you very much for you review. 😃 I have a question. In some other reviews about the Eco-tank from Canon I saw that the inkpads inside the printer are quite fast fully absorbed with ink. If so the printer doesn’t work anymore, but to let it fix costs $200,- That is what the person in the video said. You can replace the pad yourself but the printer doesn’t reset 🥲 Do you have that kind of experience with Epson? I’m looking for a good printer for a while now but ‘the inkpads’ are holding me back. What could you recommend?

The Epson ET-2820 is with a black dye ink, it is okay for glossy paper. But no borderless on A4 paper, sadly.

Thanks for the great information about how this printer behaves with matte/luster/glossy papers. My problem is that my photos have a blue cast to them. Is there a particular profile I should be using? I use "Printer Manages Colors." If I try using "Photoshop Manages Colors" I get a list of various profiles, including two Epson ones. Is there a profile I should be using? I realize it isn't a printer designed for photos, but if I can get prints that look as good as your examples, I could at least print snapshots with it.

Thank you so much for the video Keith! I'm interested in buying a printer for myself, I make sticker designs so I'm looking to beinging able to have some saturated color, I tried the Epson 2851 before but I found the colored were not very saturated, and were too blue and pink compared to the original, I was wondering if maybe I could get more saturated colors by changing the advanced settings for the colors instead of just changing the paper type and quality?

Thanks for your very informative videos. I have an ET7700 and for the last couple years I could never get the 5x7 photo tray not to jam with whatever paper I used. Had tried three or four different ones from Amazon, none of which I knew the thickness of and they all jammed. Just thought it was endemic to the printer because none of the other sizes had a problem. But just tried epsons and there's is 11.8 mil and it seems to be working fine from the photo tray. So I guess I need to find other papers that are under this thickness or around it. Strange that some budget brands don't provide thickness but just the weight or density.. So hopefully that's just the issue and I don't have to bother Epson again. To wonder why what specs it has for paper thickness etc.

Hey Kieth, great video and insights about printing on the ET-2850. I am trying to make up my mind with buying either ET-2850 or ET-3850 (both use different technology when it comes to the printing head). I am more inclined to get the later one due to the ADF (specially for scanning good amount of documents); what are your thoughts about it and would you recommend the ET-3850 than the ET-2850? Appreciate if you can send in your feedback and comments here. Thanks a million.

Hello Keith. Thanks very much for your informative videos. Does this model or any other of cheaper ecotank printers have ability to print long A4 prints (baner mode/panoramic)?

Brilliant review! What did you say the watercolour paper was called and also the A4 you folded into a border less art card? I couldn’t quite hear what you said. I truly appreciate this review as I just lost my local supplier for art printing when the owner retired and have to hustle to find a temporary solution.

Hi Keith. 👋🏾 I found your video while searching if my et-2850 could handle "cardstock". Thank you 😊 I have 2 questions. 1. What cardstock did you have the least issue using? 2. What settings did you use? I want to use it to make tags and bookmarks. Do you have a recommendation for a printer that can handle different cardstock thicknesses including making cards at home? Thank you 😊

Hello . . and thanks for this awesome review! QUESTION: I'd like to know the color quality when printing on fabric? I think it might align with your recommendation for great prints on matt paper . . . but I print on fabric using the PIGMENT INKS. Thanks for your help!

My question that led me to your video is #1 How do I get my ET-2850 to print business cards? Or to print wallet size photos on one sheet? I can shrink down a picture but it only gives me one and lots of waisted paper. This ET-2850 works great for printing off the leather patterns. The reason I purchased it. But I would like to have a photo album of the leather items I make but there is no need to have a huge US Letter size picture. Fitting two or four pictures on one paper would work. b\But I cannot figure out how to do that. My apologies if this question is not the type of printer question you answer. I did learn about the matt and gloss papers. So if i ever want to print a picture on something other then regular paper like I have been doing, ill buy matt photo paper.

Hi Kieth, Do you know much about printing on shrink plastic? I bought the Epson 2850 and was told it could print on shrink plastic but the printer just feeds the plastic through and then gives an error. I tried applying a little pressure to the top as the printer feeds (as suggested in your video) but its still just feeding the plastic through with no print.

Can canvas paper be used in the 2850. Or is it too thick? Also how do I make icc profiles for other papers than Epson?

Very interesting results Keith. I'm going to play devils advocate in addition to asking a hypothetical question....So, I currently use the ET2650 with great results which as you are aware is an all dye ink CMYK printer. Should the day come that my ET2650 bites the dust I might only have this ET2850 as an option to replace it. Am I correct in suggesting that even if I purchased a 2850 and filled the black ink reservoir with black dye instead of the supplied black pigment it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to glossy type prints because the black ink feed is effectively deactivated within the driver any time you select the glossy media type? Whilst I accept this printer ( or indeed my ET2650 ) were never sold as " photo printers " this does seem like a very odd move for Epson to do this. Unless you intend only using Matt type papers this renders this printer almost useless for photo printing unless you fool it into using the Matt paper setting but shoving gloss type media regardless. I wonder if this method would yield decent results if the pigment black was swapped for dye ink and a custom ICC profile was made? Would this be a complete disaster as the printer would dispense ink on the assumption it was applying it to a Matt paper. Surely the amount of ink layed down by the printer takes into account the paper surface type so trying to fool the printer would still give unsatisfactory results? Given Epson allow black pigment to mix along with other dye inks on printers like the 8550 why wouldn't they just allow this printer to dispense it's black pigment ink alongside the other dye based colours? Maybe Epson could update the firmware of this printers driver to allow the black channel to be engaged during printing when a glossy media type was used. I'm totally baffled by this decision, what harm could utilising the black pigment channel do mixing it with the other dye inks? Seems to me you'd get results akin to Canons own Selphy Sublimation printers ( which I also own ) which of course derives all it's colours and tones from just CMK as there is no black. Needless to say the Selphy printers whilst decent enough can never produce a decent black which is why I switched to the ET2650 ( that and the ridiculous cost of the Selphy paper/ink sets ) 🙁 This really is a very dumb move for Epson, no doubt the future replacement for this printer ( ET2950 ) will remove the ability to use custom profiles in the driver just like Canon do on their similarly specced printers 😠

Hi Keith, my question is regarding L8180 or ET8550, for some reason I can't use Ultra premium luster selection, there is none in the menu of the printer or in my drivers. So I tried to print out with Ultra premium glossy for media type and for ICC I'm using Epson series premium luster. Prints look fine, but I don't know if this is the right selection when it comes to colors especially black color. What is your opinion on this?

What is the maximum photo paper size that the et-2850 can print? How does a smaller image print on a larger photo page et-2850?

Epson work force 7720 , can I use black pigment + dye ink for the rest colors

Hey was wondering for printing trading cards it says use 100lb cardstock would this be able to print on it?

Thank you Keith for touching on card-stock in your video. I am looking for a printer for cards Size A7 5 1/8 × 7 inches (130×178mm) Thickness 111lb Cardstock (300 g/m

This is probably a stupid question as I use printers in a general sense that I don’t know anything about art or pictures. Anyway is the art paper that you are referring to similar in a way to card stock? I use 90lb, 110lb and I just bought a really thick one that won’t go thru my printer’s. would I be able to print on the 90lb and 110lb card stock with the 2850? I do have a et-15000 but I converted it to a sublimation printer and can’t use it for regular printing and would like to save a bit of money. Thank you 😊

Hi Keith - i have the ET2850 linked to my iPad and MAC. I have bought a load of 300gm cardstock 21.5cm x 27.9cm - i cannot for the life of me find the setting to change the paper to thick - the printer is just spitting out the paper. I would be so grateful for any tips :)

Dear Keith, I really like zines and would like to print them by myself. I think the ET 970 printer could meet my expectations, but the original cartridges cost too much, so I would have to use compatible cartridges. Do you think it is still a good solution or is it better to use the ET 2850 with original Epson ink? Thanks in advance.

Which one you woud recommend for graph i designer in same price range?

Hi Keith, I have the ET-2856 so basically this printer and it leaves two vertical dents/grooves when I use anything thicker than plain paper. I've tried different paper types eg Marrutt matte 230gsm, PPD satin and admittedly not Epson paper. Epson's only suggestion is for me to use Epson paper but I can't see how that will stop these grooves! Have you seen this type of problem before?

Thank you for the video, very informative but I'm still stuck...I'm trying to print on a blank greetings card (the pre folded ones in packs, obviously unfolded when put in printer) on my e2850, i've created a setting for paper size etc but the card just feeds straight through...blank...without any print on. Its driving me nuts been trying for hours...any ideas please 🙏

Well I was going through a bit of buyers remorse not buying this printer but instead of another one but after watching this video I feel like I did not make a mistake 😂

Is that possible print in roll paper, thanks if you can hel me !

Do you recommend to buy it?

is there much difference between this and the ET-2840?

Could you use luster photo paper on eco tanks

Does it prints A4 borderless?

I bought this printer last week to replace my old Epson photo printer which had died as I was told it was very good at photo printing by a Currys sales assistant 🫣 I echo what you are saying Keith it's pretty poor printing on any gloss papers I've tried. I have a Canon PIXMA on order as the Epson is useless for what I want, buyer beware in my opinion.